Sticking to same brand

[Lalatoot]

Research showing need to stick to same brand levo:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

"Patients need to understand that the recommendation to stay on the same LT4 formulation is based on the concern that switching products could lead to changes in TSH that require TSH testing and dose adjustment"

Thought this might be of interest to some.

[Nanaedake]

Might be useful for people in the USA?

[Pastille]

Thank you Lalatoot, many members say they experience problems when switching brands, not by choice but by 'getting what you're given' from the chemist.

My chemist keeps on giving me Teva instead of my usual brand.

I tell them, they change it, then 4 months down the line they hope I've forgotten and they give it to me again. I don't know why they don't make a note of it, but they don't, they just keep on trying!

I think I'll print this, put it in an envelope and ask them to read it and keep it.

[Lalatoot in reply to Pastille]

My doctors surgery writes not Teva on my prescription.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Just read quickly and, overall, quite good.

But I'd caution that at the end it says:

Acknowledgements

This supplement has been sponsored by Merck.

Funding

Sponsorship for this manuscript, the Rapid Service and Open Access Fees were funded by Merck.

Medical Writing, Editorial, and Other Assistance

We would like to thank Joanne Dalton and Georgii Filatov who prepared early drafts of this manuscript on behalf of Springer Healthcare. This medical writing assistance was funded by Merck.

Authorship

All named authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship for this article, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given their approval for this version to be published.

Disclosures

Allan Carlé has nothing to disclose. Salvatore Benvenga has spoken at symposia organized by IBSA and has received from IBSA Institut Biochimique SA (Lugano, Switzerland) and IBSA Farmaceutici Italia s.r.l. oral liquid LT4 and soft gel LT4 for the purposes of conducting clinical studies which are cited in the reference list.

And some of the other statements could have been better written and more accurate. For example, the suspension of Teva in the UK was after the company changed an ingredient without authorisation whereas it reads as if the product had always been sub-potent. And far too much emphasis on media, communication, effectively patient-blaming.